July 9

This is the pasta that I chose to use for today’s BB’s recipe of Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes.

I made this for our family 4th of July get together.

My sister-in-law tried some and said to me…

SIL: This pasta salad is great. I don’t like tomatoes so I just picked them out.

CC: Oh? Well there is tomatoes in the sauce.

SIL: No there isn’t! Tomatoes make me sick, and I’m not sick.

CC: Ok, just pick them out then~~and I laughed to myself the rest of the day.

I loved this pasta salad.

The sauce was fabulous.

The flavors perfectly came together.

I used just plain old black olives, because Kalamata olives…$4.50 for a small jar….phtttttt!

And sun dried tomatoes in oil?

Ina, Ina, Ina…honey! Not everyone has a gourmet store around the corner.

After much searching, the girl found some in a plastic package.

I did find that the next day the salad was dry.

Next time I will triple the sauce at the outset.

Make this pasta salad.

Buy some cute pasta.

Forget about expensive olives.

And rail at your grocer for not carrying sun dried tomatoes in oil.

Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients

1 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta(I got a cuter pasta)

Kosher salt

Olive oil

1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced

3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced(just use plain old black olives)

1 pound fresh mozzarella, medium-diced

6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:

5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

6 tablespoons good olive oil

1 garlic clove, diced

1 teaspoon capers, drained

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.

Ha ha, you are too funny. They are super cute pasta, where do I get some. I am finding it really strange that everyone is having trouble finding sun dried tomatoes, my horrible store that doesnt stock anything including chicken stock and sometimes potatoes carried four brands of them. Hmm. I guess people in my area demand them!

I love the shape of the pasta too! We always call them “ruffly panties” because that’s what they look like. My Walmart carries the oil packed sun dried tomatoes and I live in a small town in Tennessee, so I bet your Walmart may have them too. They are probably in some obscure place and you just need to ask someone if they have them.

Definitely cute. Though my favorite is cavatappi. Next time you can use the dried ones and let them sit in some olive oil for a couple hours. maybe even heat it up to help the oil soak into the tomatoes and soften them up.